NCRVE MDS-1206 - Public Accountability for Student Success

Standards for Education Accountability Systems

The following is a list of standards developed by the National Association of State Boards of Education's Study Group on Education Accountability, October 1998:

Standard 1: Accountability Goals and Vision
Legal authorities clearly specify accountability goals and strategies that focus on student academic performance.
Indicators:

1)	The purpose of the accountability system is defined in concrete terms as a program designed to help schools improve student achievement consistent with specified standards for student learning and performance.
2)	State and local standards for student achievement are articulated in clear, specific, and measurable terms for all students.
3)	The accountability system explicitly encompasses all students, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, income, disability status, or English language proficiency.
4)	The accountability system is based on a strategy of targeting assistance where it is needed to enhance schools' capacity to teach students to high standards.

Standard 2: Governing Accountability
At each level of the education system, designated authorities are charged with the efficient governance of the accountability system.
Indicators:

1) Responsibilities and lines of authority are clearly articulated for those governing and managing the accountability system (e.g., state and local boards of education) and those being held responsible for achieving student performance goals (e.g., teachers, schools, districts).
2) Organizations responsible for governance at each level of the education system assure that information on student achievement is efficiently collected, analyzed, and reported to educators, families, policymakers, and the public.
3) With the assistance of administering agencies, governing organizations are responsible for judging the extent to which designated agents are achieving student performance goals, deciding on consequences in response to the agents' performance, and applying those consequences.
4) Governing organizations are responsible for enhancing the capacity of schools and teachers to achieve student achievement goals through various supports and technical assistance.
5) Governing organizations continually evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of all aspects of the accountability system and refine the system accordingly.

Standard 3: Responsible Agents
Specific responsibilities for student learning and performance are assigned to designated agents.
Indicators:

1) Responsibilities for achieving specified goals for student learning and performance are clearly articulated and assigned to particular agents (e.g., teachers, schools, districts).
2) Designated agents have sufficient authority and discretion to organize their resources and programs to improve student learning and performance.

Standard 4: Collecting Performance Information
Accountability is based on accurate measures of agent performance as informed by assessments that are administered equitably to all students.
Indicators:

1) The governing organizations collect data on student progress in achieving performance standards from assessments administered at designated intervals (e.g., 4th, 8th, and 10th grades).
2) Assessments and student academic standards are aligned.
3) Multiple assessments serving different purposes are used to capture a complete picture of student progress and agent performance.
4) Test elements meet rigorous standards for validity and reliability, and are free of racial, ethnic, or cultural bias.
5) All students participate in assessments, with appropriate accommodations and supports as necessary to ensure their equal opportunity to perform. Alternative assessments are provided for a strictly limited number of students unable to participate in regular assessments due to disability or language.
6) Tests are economically feasible, secure from tampering, and their administration does not overburden schools and teachers.
7) Data are collected on critical student characteristics as well as program delivery and implementation at the school level.

Standard 5: Analyzing and Reporting Performance Information
Those responsible for governing accountability regularly report student and school performance information in useful terms and on a timely basis to school staff, students and their families, state and local policymakers, and the news media.
Indicators:

1) Schoolwide scores for student performance are analyzed in several ways, including absolute performance in relation to standards, degree of improvement over their previous performance, and in comparison with predicted scores based on contextual conditions.
2) Student performance data are reported in aggregated schoolwide averages and in disaggregated form to draw attention to defined subpopulations whose performance merits particular attention such as students with disabilities, students eligible for free or reduced price lunch, students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, and students with special language needs.
3) Student scores are provided to teachers for their individual students within the same academic year in which the student takes the assessment and are used to improve classroom practice.
4) Performance reports are produced using language and formats appropriate to their various intended audiences. Reports include thorough explanations of the meaning of the results, the limitations of the data, and important student and school contextual factors that may affect student achievement.
5) Education decisionmakers use student performance results as guides for improving policy and practice.
6) Operation of the accountability system maintains the confidentiality of individual students.

Standard 6: Incentives and Consequences
Incentives are established that effectively motivate agents to improve student learning. Consequences, which could include rewards, interventions, or sanctions, are predictably applied in response to performance results.
Indicators:

1) The accountability system encourages self-evaluation and self-improvement at every level.
2) The accountability system includes affordable incentives and consequences in the form of rewards, interventions and sanctions designed to motivate and enhance the agent responsible for students learning and achievement.
3) Unsatisfactory student performance relative to standards or lack of forward progress triggers a calibrated series of interventions with the agent, which might range from technical assistance and capacity building to the reconstitution of entire schools or districts as a last resort.
4) Student promotion and graduation are linked with satisfactory performance on appropriate assessments.
5) Agents accountable for student learning and performance clearly understand what they are responsible for and how rewards, interventions and sanctions are decided on.
6) People and institutions being sanctioned have due process avenues for appeal.

Standard 7: Building Agent Capacity
Agents are provided sufficient support and assistance to ensure they have the capacity necessary to help students achieve high performance standards.
Indicators:

1) All schools are capable of exercising school-wide strategic judgment in organizing curricula and allocating resources to enhance student learning.
2) All teachers, administrators, and other school personnel are capable of working as a collaborative community focused on student learning as their highest priority.
3) All schools have an adequate number of teachers and support personnel.
4) Teachers in all schools possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn.
5) All schools are equipped with adequate and appropriate technology, supplies, and physical space to effectively deliver programs and services.
6) Professional development is provided to teachers, principals, and other personnel on knowledge and skills needed to achieve student performance goals and implement the accountability system.
7) Technical assistance is targeted to low-performing schools to enhance their capacity to help students achieve high-performance standards.

Standard 8: Policy Alignment
Policymakers work to ensure that education policies, mandated programs, financial resources, and the accountability system are well aligned so that consistent messages are communicated about educational goals and priorities.
Indicators:

1) Education policymakers ensure that the accountability system and other education policies (e.g., student content standards, licensure and certification systems, staff development programs, college of education accreditation requirements, public school choice policies, education finance systems) are consistent with the goals and strategies of the accountability system.
2) Those responsible for governing accountability identify and make recommendations regarding statutes, rules, and regulations that are in conflict with achieving the goals of the accountability system.
3) Governing organizations assess the degree to which the policies and expectations of accreditation agencies and professional associations are aligned with the goals of the accountability system.
4) The accountability system includes an assessment of the degree to which higher education prepares an adequate number of well-qualified administrators, teachers, and support staff.

Standard 9: Public Understanding and Support
The accountability system has widespread support.
Indicators:

1) Significant numbers of students, parents, K-12 educators, higher education leaders and faculty, business leaders, policymakers, and the public demonstrate they accept and support the broad elements of the accountability system.
2) State and local boards of education engage school communities (administrators, teachers, parents, students) and other members of local communities in an ongoing dialogue about continuous improvement of student learning and achievement as informed by the accountability system.
3) Discussion of student performance results and needed school improvements regularly occur in community forums.
4) Those responsible for governing accountability involve school communities in decisionmaking processes regarding necessary interventions.

Standard 10: Partnerships
Various established partnerships work together to support districts, schools, and teachers in their efforts to improve student achievement.
Indicators:

1) Public K-12 schools and families work together as partners to ensure all students learn and achieve to high standards.
2) Public K-12 education and higher education work together as partners to ensure schools and teachers are capable of achieving the student achievement goals of the accountability system (e.g., technical assistance, preservice training of teachers, student admission, and placement criteria).
3) Public K-12 education, human service agencies, and other organizations involved in education work together in a coordinated fashion to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to learn and develop.
4) Public K-12 education works with the business community to improve student learning and development.

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1)	Responsibilities and lines of authority are clearly articulated for those governing and managing the accountability system (e.g., state and local boards of education) and those being held responsible for achieving student performance goals (e.g., teachers, schools, districts).
2)	Organizations responsible for governance at each level of the education system assure that information on student achievement is efficiently collected, analyzed, and reported to educators, families, policymakers, and the public.
3)	With the assistance of administering agencies, governing organizations are responsible for judging the extent to which designated agents are achieving student performance goals, deciding on consequences in response to the agents' performance, and applying those consequences.
4)	Governing organizations are responsible for enhancing the capacity of schools and teachers to achieve student achievement goals through various supports and technical assistance.
5)	Governing organizations continually evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of all aspects of the accountability system and refine the system accordingly.

1)	Responsibilities for achieving specified goals for student learning and performance are clearly articulated and assigned to particular agents (e.g., teachers, schools, districts).
2)	Designated agents have sufficient authority and discretion to organize their resources and programs to improve student learning and performance.

1)	The governing organizations collect data on student progress in achieving performance standards from assessments administered at designated intervals (e.g., 4th, 8th, and 10th grades).
2)	Assessments and student academic standards are aligned.
3)	Multiple assessments serving different purposes are used to capture a complete picture of student progress and agent performance.
4)	Test elements meet rigorous standards for validity and reliability, and are free of racial, ethnic, or cultural bias.
5)	All students participate in assessments, with appropriate accommodations and supports as necessary to ensure their equal opportunity to perform. Alternative assessments are provided for a strictly limited number of students unable to participate in regular assessments due to disability or language.
6)	Tests are economically feasible, secure from tampering, and their administration does not overburden schools and teachers.
7)	Data are collected on critical student characteristics as well as program delivery and implementation at the school level.

1)	Schoolwide scores for student performance are analyzed in several ways, including absolute performance in relation to standards, degree of improvement over their previous performance, and in comparison with predicted scores based on contextual conditions.
2)	Student performance data are reported in aggregated schoolwide averages and in disaggregated form to draw attention to defined subpopulations whose performance merits particular attention such as students with disabilities, students eligible for free or reduced price lunch, students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds, and students with special language needs.
3)	Student scores are provided to teachers for their individual students within the same academic year in which the student takes the assessment and are used to improve classroom practice.
4)	Performance reports are produced using language and formats appropriate to their various intended audiences. Reports include thorough explanations of the meaning of the results, the limitations of the data, and important student and school contextual factors that may affect student achievement.
5)	Education decisionmakers use student performance results as guides for improving policy and practice.
6)	Operation of the accountability system maintains the confidentiality of individual students.

1)	The accountability system encourages self-evaluation and self-improvement at every level.
2)	The accountability system includes affordable incentives and consequences in the form of rewards, interventions and sanctions designed to motivate and enhance the agent responsible for students learning and achievement.
3)	Unsatisfactory student performance relative to standards or lack of forward progress triggers a calibrated series of interventions with the agent, which might range from technical assistance and capacity building to the reconstitution of entire schools or districts as a last resort.
4)	Student promotion and graduation are linked with satisfactory performance on appropriate assessments.
5)	Agents accountable for student learning and performance clearly understand what they are responsible for and how rewards, interventions and sanctions are decided on.
6)	People and institutions being sanctioned have due process avenues for appeal.

1)	All schools are capable of exercising school-wide strategic judgment in organizing curricula and allocating resources to enhance student learning.
2)	All teachers, administrators, and other school personnel are capable of working as a collaborative community focused on student learning as their highest priority.
3)	All schools have an adequate number of teachers and support personnel.
4)	Teachers in all schools possess the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to help all students learn.
5)	All schools are equipped with adequate and appropriate technology, supplies, and physical space to effectively deliver programs and services.
6)	Professional development is provided to teachers, principals, and other personnel on knowledge and skills needed to achieve student performance goals and implement the accountability system.
7)	Technical assistance is targeted to low-performing schools to enhance their capacity to help students achieve high-performance standards.

1)	Education policymakers ensure that the accountability system and other education policies (e.g., student content standards, licensure and certification systems, staff development programs, college of education accreditation requirements, public school choice policies, education finance systems) are consistent with the goals and strategies of the accountability system.
2)	Those responsible for governing accountability identify and make recommendations regarding statutes, rules, and regulations that are in conflict with achieving the goals of the accountability system.
3)	Governing organizations assess the degree to which the policies and expectations of accreditation agencies and professional associations are aligned with the goals of the accountability system.
4)	The accountability system includes an assessment of the degree to which higher education prepares an adequate number of well-qualified administrators, teachers, and support staff.

1)	Significant numbers of students, parents, K-12 educators, higher education leaders and faculty, business leaders, policymakers, and the public demonstrate they accept and support the broad elements of the accountability system.
2)	State and local boards of education engage school communities (administrators, teachers, parents, students) and other members of local communities in an ongoing dialogue about continuous improvement of student learning and achievement as informed by the accountability system.
3)	Discussion of student performance results and needed school improvements regularly occur in community forums.
4)	Those responsible for governing accountability involve school communities in decisionmaking processes regarding necessary interventions.

1)	Public K-12 schools and families work together as partners to ensure all students learn and achieve to high standards.
2)	Public K-12 education and higher education work together as partners to ensure schools and teachers are capable of achieving the student achievement goals of the accountability system (e.g., technical assistance, preservice training of teachers, student admission, and placement criteria).
3)	Public K-12 education, human service agencies, and other organizations involved in education work together in a coordinated fashion to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to learn and develop.
4)	Public K-12 education works with the business community to improve student learning and development.